Prometheus has been criticized by L'Osservatore Romano, the newspaper that serves as the semi-official source of news for the Vatican.

Ridley Scott's science fiction blockbuster focused on a team of space travelers - including Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace - who discover a map on Earth that may lead them to discover the origins of mankind.

The paper hit out at Scott's loose Alien prequel for "[mishandling] the delicate questions raised by... the battle eternal between good and evil in yet another attempt to steal the secret of immortality".

"The journey of Prometheus should instead symbolise the search for the supernatural," The Hollywood Reporter quotes the paper as saying.